Opposition demand: Free national frequency for professional TV channel in Serbia

N1

Dragan Djilas, Serbia’s opposition Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP) leader, told N1 that one of his demands during Wednesday’s online talks with the European Parliament (EP) members about the election conditions was that an available national frequency was given to a professional TV channel.

The representatives of the European Parliament (EP) and several opposition parties in Serbia, which accepted the European mediation in talks about election conditions, started an online discussion on Wednesday to prepare the inter-party dialogue that should officially start in June.

Djilas said the dialogue was constructive and that the opposition group around SSP presented the platform for further discussion, saying he hoped the dialogue would resume in June when MEPs were expected to be allowed to travel since now banned due to the coronavirus pandemic. Another possibility is for the opposition to go to Brussels for the dialogue.

SSP leader added Wednesday’s agenda included media freedom and pressure on voters the opposition said happened in the last election cycle in 2020.

“We presented a lot of concrete examples of what had happened to people across Serbia who thought differently (from the regime), accompanied with photos, data about the access to the media,” Djilas said.

He added those reasons led the opposition to insist on changes that would make them participate in the 2022 presidential, Belgrade and possibly early general vote.

Djilas said the opposition was aware that the election conditions could not be ideal but that some changes could improve them enough for the opposition to participate.

Ahead of the meeting, Zoran Lutovac, the leader of the Democratic Party, told the Beta news agency the key issues would be the content, format, time table, and the nature of the talks and implementation of the outcome of the agreed under the EP auspices.

On Monday, Djilas told N1 that the opposition that boycotted the 2020 vote claiming unfair conditions, unequal access to the media and some foul play during the election process, would try to explain to MEPs what had to be changed.

The main opposition parties boycotted the 2020 parliamentary ballot despite the MEP’s mediation, saying it did not produce results and that even the agreed was not implemented.

Djilas could not give more details about Wednesday’s talks, saying the deal was not to do that.